A New Menace
by Aria6
Summary: It's after the war and several Espada have been captured alive. A new menace moves Soul Society to rehabilitate them and assign them shinigami partners. What will this mean? What will happen? Pairings undecided but probably Grimm/Ichi.


Author's note: I've had this on my hard drive for while over a year, a lot like Amnesia's first chapter… do you guys like it? Should it be Ichi/Grimm or just lots of adventure? *ponders* Romance is always good… I'm posting it so I won't forget about it. Updates may be very slow.

Grimmjow growled and paced the confines of his cell.

He was in Soul Society, and the company fucking sucked. Across from him was Szayel, who could just go to hell for all he cared. Beside him was Starrk, not sleeping nearly as much as usual and staring longingly at the kid in the cell beside Szayel. Lilynette was staring back at her 'father', and Grimmjow could tell the two desperately wanted to be together. It wasn't happening, though.

They were all that was left of the Espada. Kurotsuchi had taken Szayel alive, to experiment on. Starrk had been damn near dead, but someone had decided he was worth preserving too. And Grimmjow, well, he'd been easy meat when a cleanup team came through Hueco Mundo and found him half dead in the sand. Grimmjow thought that Harribel might still be alive and free, but that was it. The rest of the survivors were here.

And here fucking sucked. The cells had nothing, not even a goddamn mat to sleep on. All their powers were confined by collars and shackles. Szayel could explain how they worked, but Grimmjow didn't give a fuck. He couldn't use his power and that was all he needed to know.

He wished he could, because if he had them he'd have killed Szayel days ago. He couldn't believe the Espada was such a goddamn whiney mess. Whatever that clown faced freak had done to him had made a real impression, and the pink Espada was almost dissolving in a puddle of dread and anticipation. He'd shared all the reasons with them, too, and Grimmjow would have been glad not to hear it. Hearing exactly how they would likely be tortured and dissected had been great, just fucking great. Even Starrk had been yelling at him to shut up.

They'd had their first few exams, which hadn't been too painful. But they'd all been sure the pain was coming. Then, for some reason, it stopped. They were left completely, utterly alone for over a week. It was puzzling as hell and nerve wracking on top of it. The only light Szayel could shed on the situation was that Mayuri must have encountered something more interesting than Espada, and was busy with a different project. Grimmjow was skeptical, but didn't have a better explanation. What could be more interesting than captive Espada?

Not that he was going to say no to a reprieve from horrible torture, but the waiting was getting on his nerves. He could tell Szayel and Starrk felt the same way. Starrk could hardly sleep, and that was fucking unnatural. Grimmjow rested an arm against the bars of his cell, then rested his forehead against the cold metal. He wished there was something he could do. But there wasn't a damned thing, there wasn't even anything they could use to kill themselves with in these damn cells.

Then there was a soft clinking sound, and Grimmjow looked up as the clown faced bastard walked in, flanked by two of his men. They were carrying keys and chains and he snarled, fighting back a bit of fear. It looked like they were going places. Szayel shuddered in his cell, and he knew damned well what the scientist was thinking. It was time for their torture to begin.

"Ah, arrancar! This may be your lucky day." Mayuri said with a wide grin, revealing those weird as shit gold teeth. Grimmjow blinked, then exchanged a confused glance with Starrk. Lucky day? "You will see why soon. Please, try not to struggle too much, we are just going for a walk."

"Fuck that." Grimmjow snarled and did his damndest to fuck up the guards when they pulled him out of his cell. It didn't work, though. They were used to unwilling test subjects and a few prods from some kind of electrical thing had him writhing in pain. "F-Fuck you!"

"Tch. Try not to damage him too much." Mayuri instructed as the guards got the chains on him, threading them through his cuffs before they dragged him out of the cell. "You are such a brutish animal. I wonder if perhaps Soutaichou would let me keep you, and just take the others for his… project. Hmm?" Mayuri smiled at Grimmjow, who snarled back. "Probably not. Such a pity."

"What project?" Szayel asked nervously as he was pulled out of his cell. He hardly fought at all, the pansy. Grimmjow noticed that Starrk fought almost as much as he had, just more quietly and with a grim determination. He figured it out pretty fast. The Primera was desperate to get to Lily. She didn't fight much either, just looking at her 'father' hopelessly.

"You'll see." Mayuri chuckled softly as he took them out of the cell block. None of them had any idea where they were going, of course, but Grimmjow was still mildly surprised when he was shoved into a seat. They were in a small room with some kind of screen on the wall, and plenty of seats in front of it. The asshole was giving them a presentation? Grimmjow growled in annoyance as his chains were hooked to the floor. Not one they could leave, either. "Now! Down to business. I suppose none of you are aware of the current crisis Soul Society is facing."

"Yeah, we're just jacked up with wi-fi antennas in our brains. Of course we don't know shit, you goddamned asshole." Grimmjow snarled and Mayuri favored him with a grin.

"I'm surprised you even know what wi-fi is, Grimmjow-kun. Perhaps I'll have to give you an IQ test, appearances may be deceptive." Grimmjow fumed quietly to himself at that. He knew he wasn't stupid, whatever anyone else thought. "Now, approximately a week ago, some rather strange creatures began appearing in Soul Society." The screen came to life and they were all treated to the sight of something that looked like it had been made out of red jello. It had way too many limbs and looked vaguely insectoid. Grimmjow could sense Szayel's cowering suddenly stopping as he examined the thing. "They are like nothing we've ever seen before. They appear to devour souls, yet have none of their own. We do not know where the souls are going. They are not demons in the classical sense, however. Do you know much about demons?"

"They devour souls, but they also contain most of the souls within themselves, correct?" Szayel said and Mayuri nodded approvingly, as if the Espada was a bright pupil.

"Precisely. These creatures appear to be nothing more than a void. There are many scientific details that I might share with you later. These three would undoubtedly fall asleep if I attempted it now." He gestured a finger at Grimmjow and the others. The blue haired Espada sneered at him as Starrk dropped his head, clearly ready to sleep right now, now that Lily was beside him. "AHEM. Starrk, do pay attention." Mayuri said sharply and the Espada raised his head, blinking. "Thank you. Now, we soon noticed some very peculiar behavior from the hollows in Soul Society. Let me show you an example." The video wasn't very good, patched together from various security cameras, but the progression of events was clear. "Three men from the 6th Division were on an extermination mission, trying to find the creatures in the Rukongai. They can be astonishingly difficult to track. They engaged two of them in battle when a hollow suddenly joined in." They all watched as a hollow lumbered in and instead of attacking the shinigami, which Grimmjow would have expected, it waded into the red creatures. "When they were dead, the hollow immediately ran away with the shinigami in pursuit. Or rather, they thought the hollow was running away. However…" The scene changed and they saw the same hollow plowing into another group of the red creatures. It seemed to be in an absolute frenzy, trying to tear the monsters to pieces. The shinigami behind the hollow were confused but decided to kill the red things first. "After it finished here, the hollow attacked the shinigami and they destroyed it. But we have seen this pattern many times. Hollows do not like these creatures, and it appears they can track them from long distances."

"So you want us to be your bloodhounds or some shit?" Grimmjow couldn't believe it. "Seeing eye arrancar?" That was so fucked up. Mayuri grinned at him again. He was getting really tired of that grin.

"Yes, you definitely need an IQ test, Grimmjow. You are astonishingly fast on the uptake. Yes, we are hoping that arrancar and Espada will have the same natural aversion to these creatures that regular hollows are displaying. Our preliminary trials with a few of the numeros we have captured appear to be promising. So, you are all going to be, aha, rehabilitated and assigned to shinigami partners." Mayuri pulled something from his robe and Grimmjow saw it was one of the weird pills they had been feeding them. They seemed to work the same way as Szayel's energy pills. "Since it's possible to make these from the ambient reishi of Soul Society, none of you will need to feed. Hopefully, this will be a long and fruitful partnership."

"Until this menace is destroyed. What then?" Starrk asked and Grimmjow growled. That was a damned good question. Mayuri shrugged, folding his hands in his sleeves.

"We will see." Was all he said, which didn't comfort any of the Espada a bit. Grimmjow was tempted to refuse, but then his torture would probably start right away. And they already had some numeros, at least a few. They could probably get by without one recalcitrant Espada. "Now, Szayel, you will be assigned to Byakuya Kuchiki, taichou of the 6th Division." He spelled out, just in case Szayel didn't know who he was talking about. "Starrk, you will be assigned to Shunsui Kyoraku." Starrk sighed and Grimmjow remember that was the guy who'd pretty much killed the Primera. Apparently, there were a few hard feelings. "Lilynette, you will be assigned to Jushiro Ukitake."

"Wait, you're splitting us up?" That finally got Starrk's attention, as Lilynette scowled.

"Aw, not that guy! I want someone else, he's a dick!" She protested and Grimmjow sniggered. He'd had fun teaching her lots of curse words during their time in prison. Mayuri just grinned.

"Really? He specifically requested you, apparently he quite likes you." The scientist sounded quite entertained and Grimmjow considered giving him the finger. Then he glanced over and saw Lily was already doing an admirable job. "Ahem. Brat. And yes, you will be split up. We're quite short on numeros and we only need you to be capable of tracking. Our shinigami can easily kill these creatures, finding them is the difficulty." He said, giving Starrk a narrow look. The Primera clearly didn't like it, but just scowled and looked away.

"I'll be fine Starrk. That dumbass said I should be off playing soccer, not fighting." Lilynette tried to reassure her 'father', and it actually worked. Starrk brightened a bit at the thought. "Oi, you're a jerk too." She grumbled, looking away, and Grimmjow laughed out loud, ignoring her glare.

"Grimmjow, you're going to be assigned to Kurosaki Ichigo." That stopped his laughter right away. Lily laughed instead, and he shot her a look that promised pain if he got his hands on her. Not that he could, even if he was free. Starrk would put the pain on his ass if he dared touch Lilynette. Still, it was a nice thought.

"That fucking bastard? Are you shitting me? Why would you put me with him?" They'd tried to kill each other so many times, why in hell would Kurosaki even want him around? Mayuri grinned very widely.

"He has so much experience controlling you, it seemed like an excellent choice." He said and Grimmjow snarled at the choice of world. Controlling? "Although, it may amuse you to know that Kurosaki-kun was just thrilled with the decision." From the sarcastic way he said it, Kurosaki was anything but thrilled. That cheered Grimmjow up a little. At least the kid didn't think he was a goddamned housecat. "Now, we won't be simply letting you lose. You'll all be getting special collars, keyed to your partner. You won't be able to get too far away from your chosen shinigami, and there will be punishments if you disobey orders." Mayuri paused and his entire audience looked absolutely thrilled at the prospect of being collared like a bunch of dogs. "Now, Grimmjow, you will be going first. Kurosaki is waiting for you, most impatiently I might add." The Espada growled as the guards began unhooking him from the floor. He was looking forward to this like a hole in the head.

So was Kurosaki, though. Grimmjow watched, a touch wide eyed as the scientist freak had to grab the shinigami by his collar and drag him to a table.

"I didn't agree to this! I don't care what the soutaichou says, I'm not going to - HEY!" The scientist's little pet girl had tackled Kurosaki and was holding him down. "Get that thing away from me!" Mayuri was getting out a collar and Grimmjow sneered. He'd never seen Kurosaki acting like such a girl.

"What the fuck is your problem, Kurosaki? I'm the one getting the collar that'll shock me and shit." He didn't see what the shinigami's problem was. He was getting the controlling collar. But then Kurosaki resolved the question.

"But who knows what this one will do? It's going to at LEAST be a tracker! There better not be any needles in it, you bastard, or I swear I will kill you!" Grimmjow sniggered as Mayuri finally managed to get the collar on his unwilling subject. Ichigo tugged at the metal frantically. "Can I take this off?"

"No. Honestly, Kurosaki, try to have some dignity." Mayuri said in a bored tone as he fixed the second collar on Grimmjow. He grumbled a little but didn't do anything stupid. His powers were still under lockdown. He expected the scientist to remove that collar as soon as he had the second on – wearing two of them was a damn sight awkward – but he didn't. Instead, he pulled out a little hand held gizmo. "Let's test this out, shall we?" Grimmjow braced himself for pain.

Instead, his eyes went wide as saucers as the collar on Ichigo's throat sparked with energy. The teen had just been pulling himself up, and he went down in a heap on the floor with a loud thump followed by a strangled cry.

"Oh, I must have mixed up the collars! How careless of me." Mayuri said innocently and Grimmjow didn't even try to restrain himself. He laughed hysterically, gripping the table to stay upright. That was officially the funniest thing he'd ever seen in his life. And if it had been an innocent mistake, he'd eat pantera. No wonder the bastard hadn't removed the collar that kept his powers under control. "Let me just exchange those."

"I'm… gonna… kill you…" Kurosaki's voice was a bit muffled as he tried to pull himself up. "You… bastard…"

"Oh, tch, it was just an innocent mistake." Mayuri said as he took the collar back off Grimmjow. "Nemu?" She jumped on Kurosaki again, who yelped as he was put back on the floor. Grimmjow grinned.

"Eating a lot of dirt today, shinigami." He said, highly entertained. Even getting the proper collar put on him couldn't dampen his mood. Especially when Ichigo began to curse him and all of his ancestors. "Yeah, I'm a hollow, I don't actually have a mother. I'll tell her you think she's a bitch though." Then the restraining collar and shackles were removed. That made him feel even better and Grimmjow flexed his hands, feeling the power in his veins.

"Enough of this. Kurosaki, here's the controller. That was the highest setting, you might want to put it to something a bit lower." Mayuri had clearly decided to get rid of them, and Kurosaki took the controller before trying to run out. But Mayuri caught him back the back of his robes. "Aren't you forgetting your Espada? Nemu, unchain him." The girl got to work on his chains. It didn't take long before he was free. Grimmjow grinned at Kurosaki as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Pain collar or not, this promised to be fun as shit.


End file.
